80 ' Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
will not move, nor do anything, remaining as if deaf to my commands.”’ 
On hearing this, Houmea went herself to fetch the water ; and when she 
was gone forth, Uta began to say his spell; and this was it:— 
—— ‘Be the water absorbed (sunk into the earth), be the water decreased, 
be the water dried up ; proceed onwards, O Hou,* proceed onwards ; away, away, 
up to the very head of the streamlet, to the distant hill-country.” 
And so it came to pass, for, as Houmea went onwards, the water also 
retreated before her, going out of sight, sinking into the earth, and drying 
up. Then Uta said to his two children that they should all go away 
together ; so the children went on to the sandy beach where their father’s 
big canoe was. Then Uta taught and showed (by gestures) to the village, 
to the houses, to the clumps of trees growing near, to the privy, and to the 
brow on the hill (or place of look-out), that when Houmea should return and 
seek and call out the names of those three who were now leaving, they 
(the fixed residents) should all respecti ly answer to her calling,} and that 
not one of them was to remain silent; and so he ended his indications 
(showing-forth by gestures) to them. Then he, also, went to the sandy 
beach, and dragged down the canoe to the sea, and when she was fairly 
afloat, they all got on board and hoisted the sail, and away fled their canoe 
before the wind! away, away, to a very far-off distance indeed. 
About this time it was that Houmea returned to the village, and not 
finding her husband and children, she went about calling them loudly, saying, 
**O sir, O sir, wherever can you all be; thou and our children?” Then 
the response came forth from the privy ; the response came also forth from 
. the houses, from the clumps of trees and shrubs, and from the crest of the 
hill, At last her heart failed her and became weak, and she began to pant 
and.to cry. Then she went up onto the top of the hill and looked out 
towards the sea, and looking long and closely she saw the canoe far off, as 
a mere speck on the horizon. Then she walked to the low sandy tidal- 
bank and entered into a shag,t and went away out to sea floating upon the 
ripple of the tide. The two children in the canoe kept looking towards the 
land, and by-and-bye they, through their sharp look-out, saw Houmea coming 
on after them. On seeing her they cried to their father, «0 sir, O sir, 
here verily is the demon (atua ) coming hither!” At this time their father 
was asleep. He, awaking from sleep, said to them, “ O (my) dear children, 
whatever shall I do, lest (I) be destroyed by that demon, swallowed down 
alive into her big stomach?” The two children rejoined, ‘‘ Lo! we two 
* Abbreviated and familiar for Houmea. 
t By way of echo. Note how careful the narrator is here,—Uta does not teach them 
by words, but by significant gestures, etc. 
t Graculus varius, 
